Time Warner Customers Around Finger Lakes to Receive Refund

3/7/2013 12:31:44 PM

Time Warner Cable subscribers in Village of Waterloo in Seneca County, Geneva in Ontario County, and Livonia and Lima in Livingston Counties will be receiving credit on their bills within 90 days after Time Warner Cable agreed to pay 2.2 million dollars in refunds to over 18,000 customers throughout upstate New York. 10 communities will see 119 dollars on average after a two year investigation revealed TWC overcharged subscribers. According to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Time Warner must stop charging fees that exceed the amounts permitted under their municipalities' franchise agreement.

A franchise agreement is a contract that local governments negotiate with cable companies to give them the right to offer services and use public facilities. Time Warner aquired these agreements in 1995 from Cablevision. In some cases, though, customers were being overbilled as part the deals.